Statement Regarding Recent False Claims
TRM is aware of repeated public statements by an individual named Richard Sanders that mischaracterize our company, our work, and our employees. This statement corrects Mr. Sanders’s false claims.
On TRM’s third-party data standards
TRM evaluates all third-party data for strict compliance with legal and methodological standards before incorporating it into our platform.
Last year, Mr. Sanders approached TRM with data he had collected from Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges. Following review, we determined that his data did not meet our internal legal and compliance standards because we understood its collection violated US sanctions laws. We therefore declined to ingest it.
This decision reflects our commitment to ensuring that all intelligence provided to customers is lawfully obtained, methodologically sound, and defensible. It does not reflect any reluctance to report on illicit activity involving Iran or any other jurisdiction.
On TRM’s coverage of Iranian illicit crypto activity
Mr. Sanders’s assertion that TRM’s rejection of his data implies that TRM seeks to conceal Iranian crypto volume is false.
In January 2026, TRM published a landmark report documenting how Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps moved approximately $1 billion through two UK-registered cryptocurrency exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion, between 2023 and 2025. Following the report, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Zedcex and Zedxion. This is the first time the US government has designated a digital asset exchange for operating in Iran's financial sector.
Mapping Iranian and other sanctions-related crypto flows is central to our work and mission, and it’s important for us, and for our customers, that we do so in compliance with the law.
On T3 and illicit finance more broadly
We’ve engaged in a collaboration with TRON and Tether since 2024 with the goal of combating illicit finance because in the years leading up to that point, it was clear that illicit activity was concentrating in Tether on TRON. Since then, the T3 initiative has helped freeze over $300 million in illicit funds in partnership with dozens of government agencies across more than 23 countries. In November 2025, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) cited T3 as one of three successful examples of public-private partnerships that are actively combating illicit finance.
The T3 initiative reflects TRM’s commitment to addressing illicit finance where it operates today, and to applying new and innovative tactics to disrupt it. We continue to see this collaboration succeed in enabling law enforcement agencies and private sector compliance teams to identify and disrupt bad actors better than they could previously, and we plan to expand its work.
On the claim that Binance uses TRM Labs for transaction monitoring
Binance does not use TRM’s transaction monitoring tool.
On professional conduct
We welcome substantive, fact-based criticisms of our work and will continue to engage in discussion on the merits of issues that meet this definition. But personal attacks against individual employees do not contribute to that dialogue, and we cannot engage meaningfully or productively with communications from Mr. Sanders in this form.
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We welcome any direct inquiries on this matter, and we remain focused on our mission, working alongside investigators, analysts, and partners to build a safer financial system.
